Brian Allee-Walsh - Saints lack identity going into Cowboys game

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Originally Posted by teddybarexxx
woow! i basically say the same thing the writer said and i'm crazy. i have been saying all along that the offense is just much the blame as the defense and people on here stated i'm ...

woow! i basically say the same thing the writer said and i'm crazy. i have been saying all along that the offense is just much the blame as the defense and people on here stated i'm crazy. one guy said no one reads my post because of my "rants"(?) and one person put on here the stats; "drew brees is the #5 qb in the nfl, our offense scores an avg of 30 points a game", etc etc. the saints as a whole needs to improve if we seriously want a super bowl run. i just hope they turn things around this sunday. beating the cowgirls (sad to say) is our (shreveport la fans) super bowl

He never said the offense was just as much to blame as the defense for the 1st two losses. He didn't even imply it

I think we do lack identity. That being said so did the Giants before tonight and they had a great showing in spite of several key dropped balls and an endzone interception. That organization seems to Forest Gump themselves into the playoffs by hitting its stride at the right time. 2 recent Super Bowl wins and both years they were ready to fire Coughlin mid season.
We have the talent and we have the coaching, its just got to click. I'm fine with getting the ugly out of the way now and hitting a stride when it counts.
Sometimes it takes getting ***** slapped to realize what you need to do to get up.

I think everyone is looking for the team to match the expectations of the basis of last season and the upgrades in the offseason. Probably those expectations are a bit unrealistic. I think Brian Allee-Walsh echos the most unrealistic of these: that the Saints offense with the triumvirate of Payton, Carmichael, and Brees is suddenly going to transform into a smashmouth offense that rushes for 40 times a game. We have 8 years of evidence that no matter what, the offense will have multiple formations and will throw the ball around.

I really don't see the need for wholesale changes on either side of the ball. The offense has actually been rushing pretty consistently this season. The tweak needs to be managing the 4 minute offense.

On defense Rob needs to take a page from Rex's playbook this season: Bring the house to force bad throws, and don't give up the huge play. Our defense can afford to give up a ton of yards. Even time of possession isn't that critical. The most important thing is to keep the opposition out of the end zone and to get off the field on 3rd down. Every punt and field goal drive for the defense is a win. A turnover is even better.

I'd like to ask the group if the defense makes the two critical stops in the first two games and the team was 3-0 instead of 1-2, would we be still be asking about what the identity of the team is?

I think we need to start evaluating who is more worthy of starting. Colston is too inconsistent now, and Cooks while a rookie is just a more hungry receiver to me. I never thought Stills was flawless(and I said before, eagles game). Some of our receivers outside of Cooks, Colston are inconsistent even more and this does not include Graham. Josh Hill is a good counter to Graham, and I think since Graham broke out we don't quite have the same spread the ball mentality we used to have. Before Graham, we had Colston, Meachem, PT, Moore, Shockey(sorry), Henderson. It hasn't been the same because now DCs and defenses are able to figure out who Brees is gonna target. The unpredictablity is gone and that may be why I kind of wanted saints to trade Graham for a first rounder to bring that back.

Our defense is fixable as we're not blitzing it appears and playing off the line. We are not a zone and that has to stop. Also, maybe because he missed most of offseason drills, Byrd is not fully up-to-date with the saints and hasn't made the most of it just yet.

And whose offense is it? Is it Brees'? Or is it Graham? Because it appears now the team is putting it on Graham more than the others.